


Bakery Rivalries of Love

by Darkhymns



Category: Tales of Symphonia, 逆転裁判 | Gyakuten Saiban | Ace Attorney
Genre: Alternate Universe - Bakery, F/M, Gen, Humor, Rivalry, Slapstick, Valentine's Day
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-22
Updated: 2019-02-22
Packaged: 2019-10-28 23:10:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,422
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17796536
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Darkhymns/pseuds/Darkhymns
Summary: Two couples, two bakeries, and the beginning of a rivalry that will only leave sweets in their wake. It's Ace Baker’s Maya Fey and Co. vs. Lloydonuts!





	Bakery Rivalries of Love

**Author's Note:**

> Written a long time ago just to include mine and [SkyWrite's](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SkyWrites/pseuds/SkyWrites) ships together in some way. Originally shorter, then added more to it to fit Valentine's Day but then that day passed.. so, Happy Late Valentines??? This thing is like a year old I'm sorry.
> 
> Based off [this part](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bbMupVnkYXA) of the Professor Layton vs. Ace Attorney game.  
> And also [this official fanart ](http://taleslations.tumblr.com/post/168936860687/original-picture-tales-ch-twitter-translation) for Tales of Link.

“We only use the finest nuts!” shouted a spiky-haired baker across the counter. He pounded the flat of his hands against it, kicking up spare flour into the air. His arm, in a furious motion, pointed straight at the lady’s face. “You’ll go nuts for our walnut bread!”

The small old lady from across the counter, her hair tied up in a silver bun, started to cough as a cloud of flour invaded her space. “Oh – oh dear…”

“Nick! We’ve been through this!” Maya shook her head at her baker assistant, meanwhile handing the old lady a paper bag full of freshly baked goods. “Sorry about that. Here’s your order! Have a nice day!”

Phoenix self-consciously scratched the back of his head. His apron was smudged from his furious dough kneading, while the sleeves of his suits also sported some stains. Why he insisted on wearing a suit to his job at the bakery, no one really knew. Just another one of Phoenix’s weird little quirks. “Uh, yeah, sorry. I just sometimes really want to point and shout…”

“Well, keep a lid on it! You’re scaring away the customers when you do that.” She clasped her hands before her, smiling wide as an idea lit up her eyes. “Just put all the energy into your bread making! When you get the urge to shout, just shout into the dough!”

“…Is that sanitary?”

“I don’t know! Probably!” Then Maya gave a little shift of her eyes, walking over to the window of their tiny bakery shop. It was a bit of a crowded place with its numerous tables that barely let most pass through to the counter, and one houseplant that looked exceedingly out of place. (Still, it was very charming to most customers! It even had a nameplate on it called Charley.) Maya had to maneuver a bit to get to her desired location.

“Besides, we have to up our game a little if we want to out-bake the new guys from across the street!”

Phoenix just felt a little more confused. “Isn’t that mostly a donut shop though? They don’t really bake much of anything else..”

“Oh, Nick! Don’t you understand?” Maya shook her head, bits of flour stuck to both her face and hair. (With all that long hair, Phoenix had suggested that maybe she should wear a hair net? For safety violations? She never got back to him on that). “They’re new and hip, and everyone’s always in the mood for donuts! You can’t say the same for walnut bread!”

“No way! Everyone loves walnut bread!”

“And don’t you see their menu outside? They have a huge range of selections for just donuts! They sure do use a lot of fruit jelly… and they even have a mascot for their business!” She mimicked Phoenix’s furious pointing, using it to target at a large green and white dog that sat outside the shop, relaxing quite peacefully in the sun.

“But… isn’t that just their pet?”

“It’s their mascot!” Maya argued. “And what do we have? A houseplant! We need to re-invent our look! We need to make Ace Baker’s Maya Fey and Co. the talk of the town! Then all the bored teenagers will want to come to _our_ place to hang and eat baguettes!”

“Yeah, uh, about that name…”

“Hurry, Nick! Let’s start by fixing up the sign! I’ll get the paint, and you get the ladder!”

“You mean a stepladder.”

“Not this again!” She untied her apron and threw it at Phoenix’s face as she ran off to the supply room. “Still gotta be so narrowminded…”

Phoenix slowly pulled the clothing away from his head. _(And how did I get wrapped up in this again...?)_

* * *

“Lloyd? What are you looking at?”

While it was normal for Lloyd to get bored throughout the day, he usually stayed by the counter to get the donuts ready for the customers, or to help with the oven in the back, or to look over Colette’s shoulder in wonder as she made cute little animal designs on most of the glazed donuts. Instead, he pressed his face against the window, eyes squinted in heavy suspicion.

“…I swore I saw someone pointing at us,” he said, unsure.

Colette carefully wiped away donut crumbs and chocolate frosting from her gloves onto her apron. “Oh! You mean from the bakers across the street? They seemed nice. I haven’t gone there yet though. I really want to try their walnut bread!”

“Yeah, that does sound pretty good…” Lloyd then backed away, a small frown on his face as he thought hard. “Still, we gotta make sure we keep up! They’ve been here longer, so it’s probably easy for them to get the regular customers and all!”

“Hmm, I think we’ve been doing well! People really like our fruit donuts! That makes me happy.” Colette bounced a bit on her toes, her hair neatly tied in a bun, along with a hair net so that no stray strands could get into their baked work.

“Of course they like them! That was a really good idea of yours, Colette!” Lloyd then held up his thumb and forefinger, looking satisfied as he thought on past accomplishments. “Also, gotta say, that logo of mine that I made really did the trick! Now whenever people see that, they’ll just think Lloydonuts!”

Colette nodded to that. That same logo was on both of their aprons; a cartoonish version of Lloyd’s head, decked out in a baker hat and holding a whisk. It was just so cute! It really was a step up from what their past logo designer had tried to do… Lloyd had been a bit unhappy at that. “I do still think the other one was okay, too.”

“Agh, but he ruined my handsome face!”

Colette could only laugh at Lloyd’s little outburst. She supposed the past design _was_ a bit weird-looking…

Suddenly there was a little clatter outside, loud enough to get Colette’s attention from deeper in the shop. Lloyd quickly turned back, peering past the painted Lloydonuts logo on the glass.

A black-haired woman was standing outside the bakery, just beneath a ladder (or a stepladder? He always got those confused) as she shouted quite loudly at the person who stood atop it. Whoever was up there seemed to be fixing up the shop’s sign.

“Good job, Nick! Now make my smile just a little bit cuter! No, wait, that’s too lopsided! Honestly, Nick, how did you ever graduate from art school?” She nudged the ladder to get that person’s attention.

“Maya, I never even learned how to draw! And I didn’t go to – ahh!” A spiky-haired man wobbled while standing on top of the (step)ladder, holding precariously onto a paintbrush. His arms flailed as he did so, and said paintbrush then made an unflattering black streak across the painting of a young lady’s face, just underneath her nose.

The woman, who looked very much like the painted version, put her hands on her hips. “Nick! You gave me a mustache! That’s not nice!”

“You almost knocked me over, Maya!”

“Now how we are going to fix this? I can’t just grow a mustache! It’s not right!”

“I could have actually broken my back, you know!”

“Oh, now you’re just being dramatic.”

Colette by then, had joined Lloyd’s side, both of them looking curiously at the two bakers. Like them, they also wore aprons over their regular clothes, although seeing bakers decked out in a suit and some strange dress was a bit out of the ordinary. (Lloyd, insisting on wearing his bright red jacket and suspenders, had no room to judge.) Although their rival bakers argued quite a bit, there was a hint of a smile on both their faces. Colette found that admirable – that even when they disagreed, they still cared about each other a lot!

Lloyd, however, was focused on something else entirely. “Hey! They’re copying my logo!”

Colette raised her eyes to the sign. Oh. Well, it did look a bit similar… The shape of the round face was very much like Lloyd’s, though with long black hair instead of short brown hair, and how she was holding up a loaf of bread instead of a whisk. The words Ace Baker’s Maya Fey and Co. were wrapped around the picture in colorful script. Only, that black streak on the face of the logo was very distracting. It did look a lot like a mustache…

“We gotta work twice as hard, Colette!” Lloyd turned to her in expectation, his confidence in her so deep and unyielding that she was instantly inspired. “We can fix this place up! I’ll talk with Dad about putting some cool dwarven decorations and stuff! And some dwarven-styled donuts!”

“Wow! I didn’t know dwarves made donuts, too!”

“Well… I don’t know if they do actually, but it’s worth a shot!” Lloyd pumped a fist into the air. “We’ll still be the best donut shop there is.”

Colette mimicked his action, then a thought hit her. “How much will it all cost then? Even if it’s your dad, that’s a lot of materials…”

“Eh, Genis handles all that financial stuff. It’s probably okay.” Lloyd said all this without knowing his best friend’s suffering – how he toiled away at night adding up the numbers and trying to not let Lloyd’s overspending on things (the doggy decals on the walls, the paints for the Lloydonuts logo, the boxes of fruits they got every week for their special donut recipes) put the donut shop out of business. Lloyd would never know Genis’ sacrifice.

“Also!” Lloyd continued excitedly. “Holidays are coming up soon, so we can make some special menu things for those days! Like Valentine’s and that Easter thing…”

“Oh! Valentine’s Day is pretty soon! We could make our donuts into the shape of a heart!” Colette’s eyes shone with the idea, then reined herself back. “Do you think that would be okay?”

“You kidding?” Lloyd said back with even more enthusiasm. “That’s _perfect!_ We should start that now or something! Whatever expenses we get we can just pass off to Genis to figure out.”

Colette was so happy. Lloyd always supported her ideas one-hundred percent. “Okay!”

Off in the distance, Genis felt a shudder through his spine. No… they wouldn’t be pulling at this month’s budget already, right? No. There was no way Lloyd would be that terrible of a friend. But Genis did not sleep well that night.

* * *

The next day, Maya Fey woke up to the scent of freshly baked goods… which were not theirs!

“Nick!” Maya yelled suddenly. She slapped the sleeping baker straight on the back of the head. They just slept on the counters so they could be early to work! Again, not very sanitary. The health inspectors didn’t visit this part of town, luckily.

“Gah! Maya! Wh-!”

Maya then shushed him harshly, her black hair framing her face very intimidatingly. Or, she probably thought it did. Several hair strands stuck up from her topknot in haphazard fashion, and there were bags under her eyes, which she had gotten from ‘scoping their rivals out’ the other night. For one thing, Phoenix had questioned if the other bakers even knew that they existed? And the second thing… _(Maya, can we please get some actual beds sometime? I think I swallowed some flour in my sleep…)_

Then, he noticed a certain scent, too… but none of their ovens were on. Or he hoped not, because they didn’t have fire alarms here… which was another safety hazard for this place. “Maya?” he asked, but she only shushed him again. Were they pretending to not be here or something? The only time they did that was when Larry Butz came over, whining about his girlfriend leaving him and wanting some free pastries to cope with his loss…

Maya stealthily made her way to the front. The curtains were shut, their place not opening yet for another hour. She peeked through the blinds, squinting hard through the harsh early morning daylight. Those same eyes widened – more than they ever did, even when she channeled certain spirits. No such spirit from beyond the veil of death could have foreseen what she was observing right now…

“They’re already selling Valentine’s Day goods!” she yelled.

Phoenix, still trying to wake up, jumped at the sudden shout. Maya would have shattered his eardrums if he were close enough. “What?!” he said in reflex.

That was the wrong decision. Maya rushed to him, hands clutching the apron he still wore, (yes, even when he went to sleep. It gave him some padding on the hard counter surface) and pulled him near… just to yell in his ear again. “I said, _they’re already selling Valentine’s Day goods, Nick!”_

Ah, now _there_ was that ringing in his ears. Great.

Maya rushed back to the window, peering through the blinds, the sunlight streaking across her frizzy black hair, making her seem a bit sinister. Or maybe that was just Phoenix’s own perspective. To be fair, he was half-deaf right now because of her and didn’t really like it.

“I thought you scoped them out or something,” he mentioned, voice a little loud as he tried to hear himself.

“Keep it down, Nick!” Maya gestured, still looking away. Then, seemingly unsatisfied with that, she pulled the blinds open fully, effectively blinding Phoenix instead of just deafening him.

 _(Why?!)_ But even as he tried to shield himself, Maya stared down at the scene before her. “These guys are better than I thought!”

The Lloydonuts place was open extra-early today, but things were different. There were hearts placed over the logo of the smiling chef now on the window, and that weird dog was standing next to a sign that depicted even more of those hearts! And something about free samples… That was when she finally looked to one of their rivals, a girl with blonde hair and a bright smile, holding a platter filled with freshly baked donuts towards a growing crowd.

“Hi! Get our Lloyd Love Donuts!” she said eagerly. “We have even more choices inside!”

Maya could only be impressed… but… they didn’t do any changes to their dog to help spice up their sales! At least dye his fur pink or something!

“We’re opening up right now!” Maya flipped their sign from ‘We’re Closed!’ to ‘Hey, Get in Here!’ “Start the ovens, Nick! We don’t have time to be dilly-dallying or whatever!”

“I… still can’t really see..”

Maya huffed. She had to do all the work herself around here… “At least get ready to greet the customers! I’ve had some new ideas for our shop later on… but looks like our rivals forced my hand!” She pushed up the sleeves of her robe, cheeks puffed up with determination. “Let’s get to it, Nick!”

 _(But I only slept for three hours…)_ He didn’t say such things out loud however, knowing Maya was too busy firing up the ovens to listen.

* * *

Their early Valentine’s Day Donuts Sale was a huge success!

Sure, Colette may have tripped a few times while offering free samples to passerby, but that just made her even more endearing to them, convincing customers to go inside and try out the donuts for her sake. Lloyd, handling the orders from within the shop, had a white chef hat atop his head so that he matched the logo, complete with maybe a hand drawn heart or two on his new accessory. He still had on his red gloves, along with the long-sleeved jacket, which probably made things a little hot for him when he got the donuts out of the oven, but he didn’t care. Things were going so well! The heart-shaped donuts were selling like hotcakes! (except they were donuts); from powdered types to yummy glazed ones, and those with fruity filling.

“Thanks for buying Lloydonuts!” he shouted in farewell as a customer left their shop, three large boxes in hand. They were selling so much, and it was only just hitting noon!

The chime of the door continued to ring when Colette came back inside. “Lloyd! I’m gonna need more samples, I think – Waa!”

Lloyd leapt over the counter to catch Colette in his arms, grinning at her clumsiness. “You dork. No need to rush!”

“Ah, sorry.” This was followed soon by a giggle. “You got powder on your face!”

“Oh, where?” He tried to pat it away from his cheek, but missed it by an inch – and even more because the powdered donut sugar was on his forehead and chin, too.

“Here, I can help get it-”

Noishe was barking loudly suddenly, which nearly made them both trip from the suddenness. But each kept the other’s balance, looking towards the door. “Noishe?” Lloyd said curiously.

Colette followed soon after with a question. “Did he see something scary?”

Worried for their dog, both went to the window, the Lloydonuts logo facing them in its reversed, transparent glory, all decked up with Valentine’s Day accessories of pink and red hearts. But despite all that, they could see clearly how Noishe looked excitedly at the shop across from them. It was open already?

And there was someone outside, too! Also giving free samples of… of… Lloyd squinted his eyes. “Huh. What is that?”

The black-haired girl in her robes and apron kindly gave him a clue not long after.

“Get your Love Baguettes! One of a kind! Only here!” She held up said Love Baguette – or rather, two of them. Both have been curved together to form the shape of a heart, a little messily done maybe, but it was still a heart! The shop’s door was open – one could hear the frantic greeting coming from inside, followed by a fierce pounding of fists on a hard surface.

“Thank you! Please come again and _share the love!_ Ugh…”

“With more feeling, Nick!” She shouted back into the shop, which may have startled a retreating customer, several Love Baguettes around their arms.

“What?” Lloyd fumed, still peering through the painted logo of their shop window. All the added hearts everywhere were making this more difficult than it usually was. “That was our thing!”

Colette blinked. “Um… I don’t think heart shapes can belong to people…”

“And they’re using two of them?! That’s… that’s a good idea, actually…”

“Love Baguettes! And don’t forget our Lovely Nuts!” She held up what looked like their famous walnut bread, also mushily curved into a heart-shape. The nuts inside it looked like those little heart candies typically given out on the holiday, too! “You’ll fall for them every time!”

“Oh!” Colette was very impressed with this lady! “Those are really cute!””

Lloyd was decidedly much more annoyed. “They’re going to beat us at this rate! Also, that walnut bread does sound really good!” He ran from the window back to the counter. “I’m gonna hurry and make some more! And… and a give a 2-for-1 special!”

“But what about our break?” she asked, since it was lunchtime. Usually they would go out and take Noishe during this time, walking around the town and maybe have some coffee together. She looked forward to those…

“There’s no time! I’ll make some more free samples for you, Colette!”

“R-right!” Well, it was probably just for today. And she wanted to help Lloyd out! She believed in his dream of making the best donut shop in town!

She just hoped she would stop dropping the samples this time…

* * *

“Oh, they’re still going, huh?”

Maya was munching on one of the Love Baguettes, staring hard at the donut place. The blonde girl was frantically sharing the donut samples, and now talking on and on about some special? For two donuts? Now that was just crazy!

“Nick! We gotta start selling these things better!” She paused. “Bring Charley out here! He could use the sun anyway…”

“I don’t understand how leaving our plant outside is supposed to help…” Even so, Phoenix carried out the potted plant from indoors. Its tall stature loomed over his head, several of the leafy fronds covering his entire face. “And you didn’t have to paint him pink!”

“It’s washable paint, don’t worry! Charley just wants to look nice, sometimes.”

“Maya, this isn’t even your plant…”

“Well, Mia told me!” she said, effectively winning that argument. Charley needed to be spruced up to compete with their rival’s mascot. The pink color would be sure to draw some eyes to them!

The other girl looked to them from across the street, tilting her platter towards the ground, seemingly unaware. A few tiny donut hearts fell from their perch. Both Phoenix and Maya could hear her cry of dismay, especially as Noishe sniffed at them.

“Now she’s just putting on the cute and clumsy act! Clever!” Maya turned to Phoenix. “Okay, remember! You’re gonna have to start acting in charge while I woo the customers over with my natural cuteness!”

Normally, he would argue that he was supposed to be in charge of things anyway… and was technically her boss! But… well… life was difficult, and he had no idea how he ended up in a bakery shop, honestly. He shrugged. “Okay, okay.”

While Maya fixed her hair up a little and worked on her cute winks and cuter smiles (all while putting the Love Baguettes around Phoenix’s arms so he could start selling their product!) the door to the Lloydonuts shop burst open. Out came the other half of the donut duo, his brown hair a little ruffled underneath his tilted white chef hat, which looked ready to fall off.

“Colette, look! I made the double donut combo!” He held up his creation proudly – two of the heart-shaped donuts fused together at the side, complete with fancy designs on their front that made it looked like the guy had stuck in actual jewels into the chocolate frosting. (But, they weren’t real jewels, right?) Either way, they looked beautiful! “I uh, kinda accidentally baked two of them together a bit too close to each other, but this would be a really cool idea anyway, yeah?”

“That’s so good, Lloyd!” Colette was praising. “And you added those jewels after?” She wanted to point to those decorations as she said so. This just made her drop the platter altogether in her excitement. “Oh…”

Maya stared again across the street, and soon decided that she had had enough! She hung her last Love Baguette around Phoenix’s neck, then moved forwards. “Maya?” he asked.

“Just trying to run us out of business, huh? With our own idea!” She had her hands on her hips, staring across the street to Lloyd. “That should be illegal, right, Nick?”

“I.. I’m not that kind of lawyer, Maya. You know this.”

Lloyd heard the accusation, the girl’s voice carrying very clear through the air. Not many people were around at the time, and this gave him incentive to finally see just what was the deal with these guys!

Leaving from helping Colette retrieve their fallen pastries, he put his own hands on his hips, staring at the girl called Maya, chef hat still very tilted. “You were already taking our idea first! We came up with the heart stuff!”

“Um, Lloyd, I’m not sure…”

“No way! I had that idea way before you! Besides, we did it better.” Her cheeks puffed out as she stared down Lloyd, mimicking her cool pose! “And stop copying me!”

“You’re the one that’s copying me!”

Colette was at his shoulder, patting his back. “I think it’s okay?”

Phoenix, still looking very tired, still a little hard of hearing, and decked out in weirdly-warped baguettes all over his body, looked to the ground with a sigh. “I went to law school for this.”

“We have to settle this here and now!” Maya proclaimed. “We can’t let this rivalry keep going! Or it’ll destroy us both…” She said the last very dramatically, eyes shining, like a certain samurai made of steel that she binge-watched, even when customers were in the store.

Lloyd followed right along with her, looking serious and grim as he nodded. “You’re right about that at least! But I promise you we won’t be going down without a fight!”

Colette was giggling a bit nervously. “Lloyd… I don’t think it’s that serious..”

Phoenix finally got the Love Baguettes off him, grimacing at all that Maya said. “We’re not even rivals, Maya. They sell different stuff from us!”

“No! We gotta prove ourselves!” At that, Maya was stunned by her own stroke of genius. She turned to him. “We have to prove to our customers with more than just Love Baguettes. We have to show our love, Nick!” She grabbed Phoenix’s arms, bringing him close. “Now give me some sugar!”

Phoenix was red in the face. _“W-what?_ We’re not… we’re not together!”

Maya blinked. “Oh, we’re not?”

 _“Are we??”_ This was entirely fresh news to him. Even so, a nervous but gentle smile crossed his face. “I mean… I’ve always thought about-”

“Whatever! This is for the business!” She pulled him in, kissing him probably too roughly. Maybe even violently?

Colette was blushing from the public display of affection! Then she felt arms around her too suddenly. Um.

“We can do that, too!” she heard Lloyd say, but not really believing it. Wishful thinking, right? She’d never kissed anyone before! Especially Lloyd!

“Wha-” was all she got out of her throat before she felt his lips on her. Then her mind conveniently went blank, only noting a certain chef hat having finally fallen to the ground.

It was probably a full minute or two before Lloyd realized what he was doing and pulled back, a blush covering his face. His hair was also a bit disheveled, no hat anymore to cover the unruly strands. “Uh… sorry! I was… um…” His competitive nature was soon tempered by the reality of the situation. Maybe he was too competitive…

Colette’s face was overheating. “It’s okay! For- for the business, right?” So, more kisses were important actually! “We should keep doing that!”

Lloyd stared. “Colette-”

They were then interrupted by yelling.

“Maya, I need to breathe!”

“Why do you still have to be so dramatic?” But Maya finally pulled back while Phoenix clutched a hand to his chest, breathing heavily. How long had they been…? “And you c-clearly need to practice!” Of course, her face was just as red, looking to the panting Phoenix with occasional glances, eyelids lowered.

But whatever that was all about, the rivalry was quickly brought back when she faced Lloyd and Colette again. “I see you’re still trying to copy me! You have no originality, do ya?”

Lloyd’s previous blush was soon replaced with a grimace again. Colette sighed sadly at their moment already being over. “Oh yeah? How’s this for original?”

With that, Colette felt the ground suddenly leave her. Oh no, did she trip again? No, it was just Lloyd carrying her in his arms. Wait. He held her close, making her squeak in surprise once she realized what was happening. Maybe they could still have their moment then…

“Bet you can’t look better than us now!” he bragged, grinning wide as he held Colette easily. “We show our love way better!”

“Lloyd?!” Colette felt she was about to faint. “L-love..”

“Ah, um…” He turned to her with that same blush. “I meant to tell you…”

This only inspired Maya even further. “You think that’ll stop us? Nick! Carry me! Hurry!”

Phoenix’s face went pale. “But, my back! You know it’s not-”

“Stop stalling!” With no warning, she dashed towards Phoenix, then made a gigantic leap for his arms, expecting him to catch her full force. Her purple robes flew behind her gracefully, along with her dark hair. She was like a graceful bird flying towards him... and then he realized she was more like a freight train ready to knock him over.

 ** _“Maya!!”_** And he did catch her somehow! But he stumbled a bit, and then stiffened, a loud, audible crack being heard, even from across the street. “Oh… oh no..”

“Nice job, Nick! …Nick?”

Seeing the other couple do the same, Colette really wanted to help out more! Especially after what Lloyd said.. With firm lips, she hopped out of his arms, then quickly scooped _him_ up with a smile. “How about this?” This will get people paying attention to them! And make their shop the best in town!

“Uh.” Lloyd was at a loss on what to do, his long legs dangling a little awkwardly from her hold. “Uh…” If it was possible to blush redder than a tomato, he was doing that. “This… this is good, yeah.”

“It’s not uncomfortable, is it?” she asked with genuine concern.

“N-no! It’s very comfortable!” Lloyd had answered her a bit quickly, still very red. “Should probably… keep hanging onto me, you know.”

By then, they had missed when Phoenix had fallen to the ground. They only noticed when they heard him moaning in pain on the pavement, Maya standing before him with a slightly worried look. “Oh.. I guess I overdid it a little…”

“Is he okay?” Colette called out.

But once Maya turned back, all concern for Phoenix washed away at the sight before her. “That’s just cheating!”

Now she was getting desperate. She reached for one of the discarded Love Baguettes and then just… threw it at them! “Take this!”

Lloyd, however, was well prepared.

He reached into one of his apron’s pockets, bringing out the double Lloyd Love Donut and flung it straight back at Maya. “Then take this!” he shouted back.

Both pastries arced through the air… straight into the face of a random passerby.

Colette gasped. “Oh no!” But the woman looked familiar…

Luckily, the person, a small old lady by the looks of it, caught the two flying pastries in both hands. She smiled warmly at both bakers. “Why, thank you for the samples. These work so well together. I can share these with my family.” Then she tottered away, keeping both baguette and donut in her hands.

Maya stared. “Oh! That’s the same lady from yesterday… the one you scared off, Nick!”

Phoenix finally got to his feet, slouched over slightly. “I didn’t… I didn’t scare anyone!”

Colette soon remembered! “Ah! Isn’t that Marble? Genis’ friend? I’m glad she’s okay.”

Lloyd was still in her arms, looking confused. “She has like super good reflexes…”

Maya was then rushing up to them, dragging Nick with her by his tie, nearly scaring Colette into dropping Lloyd on the ground. “We have to join forces!”

“What?” everyone asked, including Phoenix.

“That lady was proof! We could grow our businesses if we start selling stuff together. Still our own shops but like… um… specials when you get both!”

“Oh…” Lloyd said dumbly, before finally understanding. _“Ohhh.”_

“I don’t really understand,” Colette had to admit.

“Two is better than one!” Lloyd then said, as if that explained everything. “I get it! We have to start working together! So anyone that buys stuff from our place like… gets a discount or something from their bakery shop!”

“Yeah, yeah! And same with us! With your donut stuff!” Maya was clenching her fists, which unfortunately tightened Phoenix’s tie around his neck a bit too much. “We’ll be the best!”

“Maya-!”

“Yeah! So uh, partners!” Lloyd held out his hand, still in Colette’s arms, but also ready to do business.

“Partners!” Maya shook his hand, both of them looking very proud of themselves. “I’ve saved our business, Nick.”

“It was never in danger to begin with-! Ack!”

Colette was just happy they could all get along and be friends now. “So, can we try those Love Baguettes, maybe?” They looked so yummy! And maybe her and Lloyd could share one…

“Of course!” Maya said, like they were old friends. “And make sure to try our Lovely Nuts, too!”

“Maya, we need to rethink that name-”

“Also, I get free donut eating privileges now that we’re partners, yeah?”

Lloyd readily agreed. “As long as I get to try that walnut stuff!” Off in the distance, Genis felt a cold shudder run through him again. Ah… economic disaster would be in the future if he was not careful…

But none of that worried anybody. With Maya and Lloyd already discussing their future plans, Phoenix still slightly suffocating, and Colette just so happy that everything worked out for the best, the future of Ace Baker’s Maya Fey and Co. and Lloydonuts was looking bright!

**Author's Note:**

> Other ideas that SkyWrites gave me for this concept that I'm too lazy to write but it would be cool. These include:
> 
> • Maya and Phoenix's Shop being originally Mia Fey's before she passed. So Phoenix was like her apprentice baker?? Maya took over though.  
> • Phoenix's badge being an Exsphere, containing Mia's soul. Useful for when Maya wants to just summon her dead sister no problem.  
> • On that note, Lloyd and Colette's baking shop was originally given to them by Anna. Lloyd also has her Exsphere. These things still exist in funtime bakery world, that's a little sad.  
> • Detective Gumshoe being so incredibly impressed by Lloyd's logic of using two swords. Comes to the conclusion that he should start using TWO GUNS. I wish I included him in this fic now.  
> • Kratos is a famous prosecutor because why not. His signature line is 'Blame your fate.' Maya is a fan of him, and quotes this line all the time. Both Lloyd and Phoenix hate it.  
> • At some point Maya can channel Lloyd's dead mom. Would be a tearful reunion usually except Anna is kind of a weirdo. Makes it just awkward instead.


End file.
